Our services

Small pets

The care and medical treatment of small pets is particularly close to our hearts. We specialise in rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, degus, hamsters, rats, mice and gerbils.

Lisa Nierhaus is a member of the small mammal working group of the German Veterinary Medical Society and has completed numerous courses in small pet medicine. Thorough diagnostics with laboratory tests, radiography and ultrasound help us reach a precise diagnosis and start targeted treatment. We are also glad to advise you on husbandry and feeding, based on current knowledge.

Operations are carried out under inhalation anaesthesia or as fully reversible injection anaesthesia. Comprehensive monitoring — ECG, pulse oximetry, fluid therapy and oxygen — during induction and recovery as well is a matter of course for us, so that anaesthesia is as safe as it can be.

Preventive care

Regular check-ups help us to detect and treat illness early. Once a year, before any vaccination that may be due, your animal is examined thoroughly. For patients at risk or for older animals, further tests such as blood analysis, blood pressure measurement and ultrasound are worthwhile.

Vaccination

Our vaccination recommendations follow the German Standing Committee on Veterinary Vaccination. As many vaccinations as necessary, as few as possible — for each individual animal. On request we will remind you by e-mail or letter when a check-up or vaccination is due.

Parasites

Parasites such as ticks, fleas and various worms can transmit disease or simply make your animal miserable, so we recommend regular and effective parasite control. Which product suits your animal depends on how it lives, and we are happy to advise. To detect worms we offer faecal analysis so that treatment can be targeted. Tapeworms, however, cannot be reliably ruled out by faecal analysis, so animals that roam outdoors should be treated for tapeworm regularly.

Registration

Every dog and every cat should carry a microchip. If an animal goes missing, it can then be brought home quickly. If your animal is chipped at our practice, we are glad to register it for you with Tasso and FINDEFIX, the German pet registers.

Dentistry

How much healthy teeth matter is often underestimated. Periodontal disease, which is common, is a serious condition. Even if your animal still appears to eat normally, inflammation in the mouth can damage other organs such as the heart or the kidneys. Strong breath odour, broken teeth or tartar are reasons to bring your animal to see us.

Professional dental cleaning is always carried out under anaesthesia. Only then can the periodontal pockets be cleaned properly. We remove tartar with an ultrasonic scaler, then examine every single tooth with a periodontal probe; badly damaged teeth are extracted. The remaining teeth are polished afterwards. Once treatment is complete, we explain exactly how to care for your animal’s teeth at home.

Teeth in rodents and small pets

The teeth of small pets grow throughout life. Malocclusion or an unsuitable diet therefore often leads to overgrowth. Treatment of the cheek teeth is carried out under sedation only, to keep stress and the risk of injury to a minimum. Radiographs are always necessary before treatment, in most cases of the head and the teeth, because only a precise diagnosis allows targeted treatment.

Cats and dental disease

Besides periodontal disease, cats very often suffer from FORL — feline odontoclastic resorptive lesions. Around 50 to 75 per cent of all cats over five years of age are affected by this extremely painful condition, in which the teeth are destroyed by the body’s own cells. It can only be diagnosed reliably with dental radiographs, because the process begins below the gum line. Dental treatment in cats is therefore always carried out with dental radiography at our practice.

Please bring your cat to see us if you notice any of the following:

• A change in how it eats
• Refusing dry food
• Increased salivation
• Shaking its head or chewing on one side only
• Strong breath odour
• Redness along the gum line

Internal medicine

Our in-house laboratory allows us to carry out comprehensive blood tests. We use modern analysers, so results are usually available after 10 to 15 minutes. In an emergency in particular, this lets us reach a diagnosis quickly and begin targeted treatment straight away.

With our digital radiography unit we can take images of the thorax and the abdomen to investigate disease further. Orthopaedic conditions and fractures can be diagnosed the same way.

Ultrasound shows all the organs of the abdomen. Your animal lies relaxed on its back or on its side for the examination. Pregnancy examinations are also possible.

Surgery

We carry out all common soft tissue operations at the practice. For orthopaedic and neurosurgical procedures we refer you to recognised specialists.

Anaesthesia and surgery raise many questions, and often fears, for owners. We therefore take time for a thorough conversation before any planned procedure. Your animal is examined carefully before every anaesthetic. For certain procedures, or for older animals, we recommend further tests such as blood analysis, radiographs or cardiac ultrasound, so that the anaesthetic can be tailored to your animal.

We use both injection and inhalation anaesthesia. Thanks to close monitoring — ECG, pulse oximetry, capnography and blood pressure — we can look after older animals and patients at risk very well.

You are welcome to stay with your animal while it goes to sleep. Your animal is only discharged once it has fully recovered from the procedure and can leave the practice on its own four legs.